Villain Retirement

"What did you do, Riri!?"

A few minutes after just staring at the dead body inside one of the cubicles, Riley called for Miss Pepondosovich and Esme — and as a matter of course, Miss Pepondosovich could not help but just gasp as she saw a corpse just sprawled on the toilet. She was already nervous when she saw Riley's bloody mop, but now she was completely in panic.

"Quick, let's just… let's just chop the body into pieces so we could hide it," Miss Peponsodovich grabbed the student's leg, "Why did you even have to kill someone, Riri!?"

"I did not kill him, Miss Pepondosovich," Riley, however, shook his head, "I found him like this."

"...What? What do you mean?" Miss Pepondosovich, who was about to tear the corpse's leg, quickly dropped it as she looked Riley in the eyes, "You… didn't do this?"

"Hm," Riley nodded.

"That is true…" Esme also nodded as she looked at the corpse from head to toe, "...It lacks artistry for it to be Master's kill."

"Wait… that doesn't change the fact that the three of us are still surrounding an unattended corpse! We will be the prime suspects for this," Miss Pepondosovich once again grabbed the student's leg, "We should—"

"Kh…"

Before she could do anything, however, the corpse suddenly moved and started gasping for air.

"It's… it's alive," Miss Pepondosovich once again let go of the leg as she looked at Esme and Riley, "Should… we just kill it so that it won't suffer anymore?"

"P…please… save… save me."

"..." Miss Pepondosovich squinted her eyes as she stared at the student's mangled and trembling face. But after a few seconds, she clicked her tongue and quickly pulled him up and carried him over her shoulders,

"Let's go… to the clinic!"

***

"You said… you found him in the lavatory?"

"Hm."

"...He's getting targeted again."

Fortunately for the student, Miss Pepondosovich and the others were able to find the clinic before he could completely pass away on her shoulders. As soon as they brought him to the clinic, however, the doctor just let out a sigh and asked Miss Pepondosovich to place him on the bed.

"Again?" Miss Pepondosovich raised an eyebrow, "You mean this child is being bullied?"

"Unfortunately so," the doctor sighed and shook his head, "He's currently the college's best student — leagues away from his peers."

"Why… is he getting bullied then?"

"Because he is a piece of shit," the doctor once again sighed, "He's from the bad part of the city and… hasn't really learned how to mingle with the others. They liked him at first and sympathized with his background. After all, his magic control was something the other students hadn't seen before… but his personality is just…"

"A bad egg, eh?" Miss Pepondosovich crossed her arms and sighed, "Maybe I really should have just torn him into pieces and flushed him down the toilet."

"What was that?"

"It's a good thing we found him in the toilet," Miss Pepondosovich nodded, "Well, Riri here found him."

"Oh…" The doctor finally noticed that he didn't recognize the three at all, "...Why were you in the lavatories again?"

"We were asked to clean it by an old man with large monocles, Healer," Riley answered, "We were caught cutting classes."

"Lloyd," the doctor pinched the bridge of his nose, "Consider your punishment done since you brought this guy here. But don't go back to your class, unless, of course, you want to be punished again."

"We will just head to the library then, Healer," Riley nodded, "Can you point us in the right direction?"

"...Figures," the doctor sighed and shook his head, "The library's been abandoned to the point the students don't even remember where it is. It's all practical lessons nowadays, no more theories."

The doctor started grumbling for a few seconds until finally telling Riley and the others the directions to the library.

"...Are we sure we're in the right place?"

"Yes."

And as Riley followed the doctor's directions to a tee, they found themselves in front of a door. Or rather, a remnant of a door that was not even attached to its hinges; one could still not see inside, however, as cobwebs completely replaced the role of the door instead.

"It says there that this is the library, Miss Pepondosovich," Esme pointed at the plaque hanging above the doorway.

"...You could read that?" Miss Pepondosovich raised her leg, before casually swinging it; creating a loud snapping noise that cracked in the air. And as she did so, all the webs blocking their path were blown away completely.

"Gentlemen first," Miss Pepondosovich gestured to Riley to go ahead. Riley did not seem to mind, however, as he just calmly stepped inside the dim and obviously musky hall. And as soon as he entered, he snapped his fingers — lighting up all the candles and torches that had probably not been lit for a century.

"Kukh," Miss Pepondosovich coughed as she entered the hall, "I guess knowledge is not power, after all. But… I think we were not the first gods to search this place. The doctor also said there hasn't been a librarian managing this library for years."

There were a lot of books and torn pages scattered everywhere; with the library obviously already ransacked by other elements. But from all the dust covering everything, it would seem it has already also been a long time ago.

"Do you think they've already found something?"

"No," Riley shook his head, "Almost all of the books are not on the shelves, which means they have already searched the entire library but most likely found nothing. Some of the books were burnt too, they did that in frustration, Miss Pepondosovich."

"Were you a detective in your universe, Riri?" Miss Pepondosovich raised an eyebrow.

"My father just taught me a lot of things, Miss Pepondosovich," Riley shook his head before grabbing a book from the floor, letting all the dust just fall from it.

"Does that include finding a book that might not exist?" Miss Pepondosovich started softly kicking away the books on the floor, "We don't even know what sort of book we are looking for, we just took the winged god's words at face value."

"My father did teach me something, Miss Pepondosovich," Riley nodded as he picked up another book on the floor. As he did so, however, a miniature version of himself lifted it up from the floor and handed it to him,

"A little elbow grease is needed most of the time."

"Wh—"

And before Miss Pepondosovich could even utter a word, most of the books around them started to hover from the floor—no, they were all being lifted up by miniature Rileys, hundreds and hundreds of them.

"We should clean this place while we are here, Miss Pepondosovich," Riley nodded, "Things are easier to find without obstructions."

***

"...There's nothing!"

A loud noise erupted in the library as Miss Pepondosovich slammed a book on the floor. It was, however, quickly followed by a tiny and high-pitched scream as one of the miniature Rileys started pointing at her, shaking its head before lifting the book and placing it on the shelf.

And with that, the only thing the library showed was its age; the books, now all neatly arranged on all the shelves— in their alphabetical order, genre, and category at that. Both the lower and upper levels of the library, completely devoid of any dust and cobwebs — and it hasn't even been an hour.

"You seem to have so little patience for one who has lived a long time, Miss Pepondosovich," Esme could not help but shake her head as she thanked the miniature Riley who placed the last book.

"The more you have lived, the less patience you have," Miss Pepondosovich wagged her finger, "Any more things your father taught you that could be useful here, Riri?"

"Perhaps someone else has already taken the book?" Esme placed her hand on her chin, "Perhaps not necessarily a god?"

"Or it just doesn't exist and that winged god duped us. Or worse, he's wrong," Miss Pepondosovich sighed, "He mentioned a librarian, but the fact that he doesn't know a school already exists here means his information is just outdated. And that librarian has probably already melted into the ground."

"Hm…"

"What have you even been looking at there, Riri!?" Miss Pepondosovich could not help but approach Riley as he had been standing in front of a wall several times—no. It wasn't exactly a wall, but a large painting that has already been eaten by dust and age. Soon, however, as Riley placed his hand on it, all the dust just floated away; revealing a portrait of an old man…

…and in his hand was a book.

"This… it says here that he's the founder of the college," Miss Pepondosovich squinted her eyes as she blew on the label at the bottom of the frame, "Do you think… he's the librarian that winged god was speaking of? Do you think he's—"

"The great grandfather of my grandfather."

And before Miss Pepondosovich could finish her words, they heard a voice approaching from behind them. They all turned around…

…only to see the boy they rescued earlier walking toward them; his face no longer mangled.

"The man who left a curse on my family for generations."